Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-10-14
"Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for
your sakes He became poor."

Was there ever n contrast SO overpower-
ing as that between the MONDAY of Christ's
celestial departure and the midnight of his
earthly arrival? Sure enough, the angels
We're ont that night in the sky, and especial
meteor acted MS escort, but all that was
from other worlds, and not from this world.
The earth made no demonstration of well
come. If one OF the great princes of this
world steps out ut n depot cheers resound,
and the bands play, and the flags wave.
But for the arrival of this missionary
Prince of the skies not torch tared, not
n trumpet blew, not plume tluttered. All
the music and the pomp We're overhead.
Our world opened for him nothing better
than a barn door. The rajah of Cashmere
sent TO Victoria bedstend of carved gold
and a canopy that cost S75o,000, but the
world had for the Prince of Heaven and
earth only litter of straw. The crown
S15, 100000, but this member of eternal
royalty had nowhere to lay his head. To
know how poor He was, ask the camel
drivers, ask the shepherds, ask Mary, ask
the three wise men of the East who after
ward came there, young Caspar and
middle aged Balhasar and old Melchoir.
Toknow how poor He was, examine all the
records of real estate in all that oriental
country, and see what vineyard, or what
house, or what field He owned. Not one.
| or what mortgage was He the mortgagee?
or what tenement was He the landlord?
OF what lease was He the lessee? Who
ever paid Him rent2 Not owning the boat
on which Iie sailed, or the beast on which
he rode, or the pillow on which He slept.
He had so little estate that in order to pay
his tax He had to perform miracle, put
ting the amount OF the assessment in a
tishs mouth and having it hauled ashore.
And after His death the world rushed in to
take an inventory OF His goods, and the
entire aggregate was the garments He had
worn. sleeping in them by night and
travelling in them by day, bearing on them
the dust of the highway and the saturation
of the sea. Paul in my text did not go far
from hitting the mark, did he. when he
said of the missionary Prince: "For your
sakes He became poor?"
The world could have treated Him better
if it had chosen. 1t had all the means for
making His earthly condition comfortable.
Only few years before when Pompey,
the general, arrived ut Brindisi he was
greeted with arches and costly column,
which celebrated the l2,0Oo,OOo people
whom he had killed or conquered, and he
was allowed to wear his t1iumphal robes
in the Senate. The world had applause
for imperial butchers, but but1eting for
tne Ifluce VI 1eace. L1enty OF ROlden
chalices for the favored to drink out of,
but our Prince must put His lips to the
bucket of the we'll by the roadside after He
had begged for drink. Poor? Born in
another mans barn and eating at another
mans table, and cruising the lake in an
other mans fishing smack, and buried in
another mans mausoleum. -Four inspired
authors wrote Of His biography. and in
Vulnerable lives of Christ have been pub
lished, but He composed His autobiography
in most compressed way. He said: 81
have trodden the wine press alone" Poor
i'll the estimation of nearly all the pros
breaker, wine bibber, traitor, blasphemer,
and ransacked the dictionary of opprobrium
from lid to lid to express their detestation.
l can think now of only two we'll to do men
who espoused His cause-Nicodemus and
Joseph of Arimathea. His friends for the
most part were people who, in that climate
where ophthalmy or Inflammation of the
eyeball sweeps ever and anon rs scourge,
had become blind, sick people who were
anxious to get we'll, and troubled people in
whose family there was some one dead O,
dying. If He had purse OF oil it was
empty, or we would have heard what was
done with the contents at the post-mortem
Poor? The pigeon in the dove cote, the
rabbit in its burrow, the silk worm in its
cocoon, the bee in its hive, is better pro-
vided for, better off, better sheltered. Ave,
the brute creation has a home on earth,
which Christ has not.
II on windy days the raven
Gatnbol like n dancing skin,
Not the less he loves his haven
On the bosom of the cliff.
III almost with eagle pinion
Ger the Alps the channels roam,
Yet he has some small dominion
Which no doubt he calls his homo.
But the Crown Prince of all heavenly
dominion has less than the raven, less
than the chamois, for He was homeless
Aye, in the history of the universe there is
no other instance of such coming down
Who can count the miles from the top OF
the throne to the bottom Of the cross? Gle
opatra, giving banquet to Antony, took q
pearl worth 100000 and dissolved it in
vinegar and swallowed it. But when oul
} Prince, according to the evangelist, in His
} last hours took the vinegar, in it had beer
, dissolved all the pearls of his heavenly
royalty. Down until there was no Other
J depth for Him to touch, troubled until
there was no other harassment to suffer
poor until there was no other pauperlsm tc
torture, Billions of dollars spent in wars
to destroy men, who will furnish the sta.
tistics of the value of that precious blood
that was shed to save us? aye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
. though he was rich yet for your sakes he
became poor"
Only those who study this text in two
places can fully reach its power-the Hol,
Land of Asia Minor aud the holy land O!
Heaven. How I should like some day te
take drink out of Jacobs we'll, and take
sail on Galilee, and read the Sermon OF
the Mount while standing on Olivet, anc
see the wilderness where Christ was
tempted, and be some afternoon on Cal.
vary ut about o'clock, the hour at which
} closed the crucitxion, and Sit under tho
sycamores and by the side of the brooks
) and think and dream and pray about the
poverty of Him who came our souls tc
save. But you and will probably be de-
MED that, and SO here, in another cont
nent and in another hemisphere, and il
scenes as different as possible, we recount
as we'll we may how poor our heavenl,
Prince became. And in the other holy
land above we may all study the riches
that He left behind when He started fol-
/ earthly expedition. Come, let US bargain
, to meet each other at the door of the
} Fathers mansion, OF on the bank of the
river Just where it rolls from under the
; throne, or at the outside gate. Jesus go
the contrast by exchanging that world fo1
this; we will get it by exchanging this
world for that. There and then you will